Apparently it’s not enough that a Republican is claiming that women can’t get pregnant through rape, another GOP congressman is now claiming that little girls who are raped can’t get pregnant either. Rep. Steve King of Iowa seemed to be making that claim during an interview on KMEG-TV.

According to TPM, a reporter asked King about his support of H.R. 3, which would have classified rape as only a forcible act, and asked if little girls who get pregnant through rape should be forced to carry the pregnancy to term. King unbelievably replied that he’s never heard of any instance of a child rape victim becoming pregnant.

REPORTER: “You support the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act that would provide federal funding for abortions to a person that has been forcefully raped. But what if someone isn’t forcibly raped and for example, a 12-year-old who gets pregnant? Should she have to bring this baby to term?”

KING: Well I just haven’t heard of that being a circumstance that’s been brought to me in any personal way and I’d be open to hearing discussion about that subject matter. Generally speaking it’s this: that there millions of abortions in this country every year. Millions of them are paid for at least in part by taxpayers. I think it’s immoral for us to compel conscientious objecting taxpayers to fund abortion through the federal government, or any other government for that matter. So that’s my stand. And if there are exceptions there, then bring me those exceptions let’s talk about it. In the meantime it’s wrong for us to compel pro-life people to pay taxes to fund abortion.”

Of course, Steve King isn’t telling the real truth. In reality, rape impregnates thousands of women every year, including little girls. King is also wrong to claim that the federal government funds abortion. The federal government is barred from funding abortion because of the Hyde Amendment. The only exceptions to that law are women and girls who become pregnant by rape or incest, which is acceptable and understandable to most human beings. But because King hasn’t personally known any instance of little girls being raped and impregnated, he doesn’t want there to be any circumstance where abortion should be allowed.

Just the fact that he would suggest that rape can’t result in pregnancy is egregious. But to deny the right to an abortion to a little girl who has been raped and impregnated by her own father or to any raped woman for that matter is morally wrong. Rape is a humiliating and traumatic experience for any victim of it. Forcing these victims to carry their rapist’s baby should be a crime against humanity. Not only does the victim have to suffer through the rape itself, she is being forced to go through the pain and humiliation of being forced by her own government to carry the baby of the man who raped her. King and his Republican colleagues would force traumatized women and girls to experience nine agonizing months of hell. This is a punishment that only allows the rapist to torment his victims even longer. So in effect, Republicans would be aiding rapists in the torture of their victims. And they are trying to do so by an act of law.

This is why women should have the free and unimpeded right to have an abortion. In their effort to ban abortion in its entirety, Republicans are willing to change the definition of rape and belittle the women who are victims of this high crime. Any politician who treats women and rape in such a manner should not only be defeated in elections, they should be forever banned from seeking or holding public office in perpetuity.